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Herrin had a tough race against Petersen, but the South African rider had jumped the start and received a five-second penalty, ensuring Herrin's posi- tion was never truly at risk. Her- rin's second place marked his sixth podium of the season and moved him into the points lead by a single point over Attack Performance/Progressive/Ya - maha Racing's Jake Gagne. Despite his five-second penalty, Petersen still took third place ahead of Kelly, who had received his own five-second jump-start penalty. Gagne's per - sistent arm-pump issues—that he plans to rectify with surgery following this round—saw the Colorado resident take fifth. Herrin's teammate, Loris Baz, finished sixth, less than a second behind Gagne and well ahead of Vision Wheel M4 Ecstar Suzuki's Xavi Fores, who narrowly beat teammate Bran - don Paasch to the line. Danilo Lewis (Team Brazil BMW) finished ninth and Ashton Yates (Jones Honda) completed the top 10. Race two was a classic, as Her- rin, Beaubier, Kelly and erstwhile championship leader Bobby Fong (Wrench Motorcycles Yamaha), who crashed out of race one, went at it for the full 20 laps. Beaubier shot off into the lead, but Herrin refused to let him escape. The number-two Ducati latched onto Beaubier's BMW and made the lunge at turn 11 on lap three, taking the lead away as he then undertook 16 laps of continuous pressure from Beaubier behind. VOLUME ISSUE JULY , P83 on the last lap to protect the lines but also not make the mistake of overprotecting and losing drives. I don't know what happened behind me, but it worked out. I'm just super happy to get this be - cause it's huge for the champion- ship. We've clawed our way back from a long way. The team really deserves this. We talked about it yesterday. It's been 30 years since Ducati has won a champi - onship. That just got me super motivated, especially because [Eraldo] Ferracci is here." "I didn't quite have the pace I did yesterday at the beginning," Beaubier said. "We went with the five front today because the three yesterday was moving around a little bit. I felt like that was the better option today. I didn't quite have the bite I wanted to on the edge of the tire. Regardless, I had a good bike. I just couldn't pass [Herrin] anywhere. He was super good on the brakes. He was getting out of the last corner good. One Kelly and Fong were always there waiting for it all to go pear- shaped to pick up the pieces, but the huge straight-line speed of the Ducati meant it was impossible to draft past for the BMWs, while Fong's Yamaha was so slow down the straight, all he could do was over-ride the corners to stay in touch. Despite constant threats to his race lead, Herrin thwarted all of them and crossed the line 0.24 of a second ahead of Beau - bier and Kelly, with Fong fading in the closing laps in fourth. Fifth went again to Gagne from Herrin's teammate Loris Baz, while Fores barely beat Tytlers Cycle Racing's JD Beach to the finish line for seventh. Ninth went to Lewis and Benja - min Smith (Flo4Law Racing Ya- maha) rounded out the top 10. "I could hear him [Beaubier] every lap kind of just testing—I would assume testing where he was going to be able to get me," Herrin said. "I tried my hardest 2024 MotoAmerica Superbike Race Two Highlights